The Municipality of El Tanque hopes to be able to conclude before the end of this year the construction work of the first public recreational pool in the municipality, qualified by the mayor, Esther Morales (PSOE), as “the star project of this mandate”. If there are no significant delays in the work or major problems regarding the arrival of the necessary materials, the action “should conclude in the last quarter of this year 2021”.
The tanker consistory has worked in recent days on the programming and coordination of the start of the first phase of construction of the municipal recreational pool, “which is scheduled for this month of February,” according to the mayor. Together with the municipal technicians and representatives of the winning company and the Local police Details have been specified such as the access of heavy vehicles to the area where the action will be carried out in the coming months.
The initiative has an investment of 336,000 euros, fully financed with own funds from the tanker City Hall. It will be a space for leisure and health that is different from the pools promoted in recent years. It will not be a large covered installation like the ones that have been carried out in places like La Guancha, La Orotava, La Matanza or Santa Ursula, but another concept, closer to the swimming pools of a hotel complex. This project foresees an installation with changing rooms, toilets, bar-cafeteria and three small vessels: one for general use; another therapeutic type, with water beds and pressure jets, and a shallow third for children, separated by a security fence.
This first phase will enable the bathing and solarium areas to be put into operation, as well as the bar-cafeteria of the complex. In later phases, changing rooms and other complementary services will be built, if the tanker Consistory “achieves external financial support,” the mayor qualifies. This outdoor pool will be built in El Lance Park, on Colón Avenue in the urban area, “which is one of the few free lands for sports facilities that currently exist in the municipality.” For the mayor, this municipal investment will generate multiple benefits, since it contributes “to the development of the local infrastructure network, to the economic recovery after the pandemic and to the improvement of the quality of life of the residents of The tankthat they will no longer have to go to other municipalities in the region to be able to enjoy a swimming pool in the warmer months».
The works have been awarded to the company Asir Obras y Servicios SL, which has a period of eight months to carry out the work. Esther Morales trusts that the local population, made up of some 2,800 residents, will be able to enjoy their pool in 2023.
The installation is built with 360,000 euros of own funds from the City Council of El Tanque
It will be a recreational pool that, like other municipalities of the Archipelago with similar characteristics, such as Puntagorda, on the island of The Palmor the town of Tejeda, in Gran Canaria, «aims to offer a new leisure and therapeutic service, preferably during the summer months». Puntagorda has a population of 2,203 residents and Tejeda, just 1,900. The daily cost of admission to both pools ranges between 2 euros paid by non-residents and 4 euros charged to visitors from outside both towns. There are also different types of subscriptions with offers and discounts for large families or retirees.
Esther Morales remember that this project is an initiative of the Socialist Government Group in the municipality, which assumes “an electoral commitment from the last elections of 2019 to courageously promote the implementation of a new facility for a municipality that, lacking a coast, wants to make available to the public an aquatic facility that generates an added value to a town that has been waiting for this news for decades”.
Apart from offering a playful and healthy service to the residents of the town, of all ages, this pool would allow, for the first time in local history, the organization of small children’s swimming courses in The tank. Until now, the smaller tankers have had to travel to the municipal swimming pools from Garachico or Los Silos.